Police in two Macomb County communities are looking for a team of scam artists who are going door-to-door in local neighborhoods impersonating student athletes selling fake magazine subscriptions.

Investigators have received complaints from homeowners in Clinton Township and Sterling Heights over the past week about the young women. The women are telling homeowners they are members of a Fraser softball program or Michigan State University students working to raise money for either wounded soldiers or battered women, police said.

“We’ve received some good tips and we think we know who these people are, but we’re looking to see if there are any additional victims at this point,” said Clinton Township Detective Capt. Richard Maierle.

One resident was curious after having a woman come to the door with the magazine pitch and contacted Fraser Public Schools. Officials there put out an email to parents on the district’s mailing list warning them about the scam, said spokeswoman Nicole Malak.

Advertisement

“The second we heard about this we took steps to alert our parents because there is no fundraiser like that underway,” Malak said. “It raised a red flag to us and we wanted to make sure our community knew what was going on.”

One resident who saw the school district’s email became suspicious when a young woman came to his house and tried to sell his wife a subscription, He used his cell phone to take a picture, which police are using in their investigation.

In Clinton Township, there have been three victims who fell for the scam, including an elderly woman who was scammed out of $352.

Maierle said the young women are part of a larger scale operation.

“We think these cases are all connected,” he said.

In Sterling Heights, police on Thursday said they received a report of suspicious activity on Sept. 12 after a resident on the 11000 block of Anna Lisa near 16 Mile Road and Dodge Park called to report a young female soliciting magazine subscriptions for money.

Anyone in Clinton Township who may have been victimized by the phony crew is asked to call Detective Tony Maisano at 586-493-7845.